Engine failure

Syed abbas · August 2, 2018

Engine failure on the autobahn in the fast lane, I don’t need to exaggerate the danger. Full service history and engine failed at 116k causing breaking and loss of balance. Had to pull over in emergency, recovered back to UK only to find out the engine collapsed for unknown reason. It was probably the odd one they get wrong once in a while.

OldTrout · August 2, 2018

Syed,

Glad to hear you were able to pull over safely. It must have been very scary. How fast were you going?

Could you explain what you meant by "engine collapsed" please? There are a lot of us on this forum with GS450hs both older and more miles so this is more than idle curiosity.

John

Herbie · August 2, 2018

1 hour ago, Syed abbas said:

Engine failure on the autobahn in the fast lane, I don’t need to exaggerate the danger. Full service history and engine failed at 116k causing breaking and loss of balance. Had to pull over in emergency, recovered back to UK only to find out the engine collapsed for unknown reason. It was probably the odd one they get wrong once in a while.

Wow! Glad you're OK Syed. It'll be interesting to find out exactly what happened.

SpeedyGee · August 10, 2018

Sorry to hear of the engine failure. Rather unusual for a Lexus engine to fail all of a sudden.

Not sure what you mean by "engine collapsed". Could you tell us more.

Has anyone looked at the engine yet? Any conclusions?

XT5 · August 10, 2018

On 8/2/2018 at 2:41 PM, Syed abbas said:

Engine failure on the autobahn in the fast lane, I don’t need to exaggerate the danger. Full service history and engine failed at 116k causing breaking and loss of balance. Had to pull over in emergency, recovered back to UK only to find out the engine collapsed for unknown reason. It was probably the odd one they get wrong once in a while.

Hmmmm........

Syed abbas · August 12, 2018

there is clattering noise coming from under the car, Lexus had a look. they quoted 20k for a new engine. the car isn't worth 10k. i want the engine strip open and see what happened but that will cost me over £2000. I took great care of it, had 3 services done over the last 2 years for 30k miles. lexus had a quick look and jumped to conclusion ''you must have been driving without the oil, £20,000 please''. i am pretty sure, the car has never been without the oil in it. it ruined my vacation, may have to right off a valuable asset. it happened when i accelerated and reached 140mph and bang goes the engine. i thought it was a puncture or suspension problem, the way car became unstable.

Syed abbas · August 12, 2018

On 8/2/2018 at 3:35 PM, OldTrout said:

Syed,

Glad to hear you were able to pull over safely. It must have been very scary. How fast were you going?

Could you explain what you meant by "engine collapsed" please? There are a lot of us on this forum with GS450hs both older and more miles so this is more than idle curiosity.

John

On 8/2/2018 at 3:47 PM, Herbie said:

Wow! Glad you're OK Syed. It'll be interesting to find out exactly what happened.

On 8/10/2018 at 7:11 AM, SpeedyGee said:

Sorry to hear of the engine failure. Rather unusual for a Lexus engine to fail all of a sudden.

Not sure what you mean by "engine collapsed". Could you tell us more.

Has anyone looked at the engine yet? Any conclusions?

there is clattering noise coming from under the car, Lexus had a look. they quoted 20k for a new engine. the car isn't worth 10k. i want the engine strip open and see what happened but that will cost me over £2000. I took great care of it, had 3 services done over the last 2 years for 30k miles. lexus had a quick look and jumped to conclusion ''you must have been driving without the oil, £20,000 please''. i am pretty sure, the car has never been without the oil in it. it ruined my vacation, may have to right off a valuable asset. it happened when i accelerated and reached 140mph and bang goes the engine. i thought it was a puncture or suspension problem, the way car became unstable.

Britprius · August 12, 2018

There are a number of GS450H complete engines on eBay for circa £1400, and I dare say this price would be negotiable. It would make more sense to fit one of these as I imagine fitted would come close to £2000.

John.

Syed abbas · August 20, 2018

has anybody heard about a valve spring recall? if you have an older gs 450h and you accelerate harsh. you might break the engine valve spring like i did. lexus says, only certain VIN numbers were affected but apparently there were more than those certain numbers.

Britprius · August 20, 2018

1 hour ago, Syed abbas said:

has anybody heard about a valve spring recall? if you have an older gs 450h and you accelerate harsh. you might break the engine valve spring like i did. lexus says, only certain VIN numbers were affected but apparently there were more than those certain numbers.

Yes my car was recalled for the valve springs. The annoying start up rattle that some of us GS450H owners get according to Lexus does not present a problem, but cars with the same engine that are not hybrids were recalled. New timing gears were fitted on vehicles with normal starter motors, because the rattle was capable of loosening the holding bolts that eventually fall into the timing chain causing havoc.

I know of two GS450H's that have had bolts fall into the timing chain. Hard luck is the basic response from Lexus.

John.

Syed abbas · August 26, 2018

CONCLUSION: 5 star reliability rating for Lexus is mythical and overrated. lets just say the old lady coughed and dislocated her vertebrae.

NemesisUK · August 26, 2018

6 hours ago, Syed abbas said:

CONCLUSION: 5 star reliability rating for Lexus is mythical and overrated. lets just say the old lady coughed and dislocated her vertebrae.

Rubbish.

The instance of this type of failure is extremely rare.

All surveys show owners very happy with Lexus reliability.

People are very quick to complain and the absence of such complaining on the various Lexus forums is testimony to Lexus reliability.

steveledzep · August 26, 2018

I don't interpret driving at 140mph as taking great care of the vehicle !!

ColinBarber · August 26, 2018

25 minutes ago, steveledzep said:

I don't interpret driving at 140mph as taking great care of the vehicle !!

That in itself shouldn't be an issue - it is within published performance figures of the vehicle.

steveledzep · August 26, 2018

I accept that Colin. But the closer you push any mechanical item towards its limit, you are increasing the risk of failure. Not being careful is still my interpretation.

ColinBarber · August 26, 2018

Agreed, but if the engine dropped its oil, or a bolt came loose, then it doesn't really matter how much care you were taking at the time, you end up with a big lump of scrap metal.

Given the number of GS450h either scrapped, or sold cheaply, because of hybrid issues it shouldn't be too difficult to get a replacement engine relatively economically.

SpeedyGee · August 26, 2018

We won't get to know the cause of the failure but at the end of the day, all cars are mechanical and therefore culpable to failure. Whether that be due to poor design, poor maintenance, bad luck or whatever, a engine failure can happen to any make, any model, any manufacturer.

This one failure does not mean that Lexus cars are unreliable, not unless it's a common route cause across many engine failures, which I don't think is the case.

Conversely, running an engine at max load, for any realistic amount of time (1 or 2 hours say, which is some going anyway) is still not pushing it to its limits. In engine development, engines are run for hundreds of hours at max load on rigs, so it should not in itself cause failure.

Syed abbas · August 28, 2018

to all lexus fans and PR campaigners, there is a link for you below

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/legal-motoring-advice/2010-07/lexus-recall/

OldTrout · August 28, 2018

Syed,

Was your car subject to this recall and was it done?

Mine was.

John

Syed abbas · August 28, 2018

seems like it was but i am not sure. lexus refused to release the full details of all the cars affected, it might be too late to take action as the warranty expired and the car is 7 years old (so they say anything could happen). it might explode one day, not their problem. i am happy that i did not die on the autobahn. i am writing off. moving on to bmw.